Want to Write? Find Balance between Creating and Consuming First

From FOMO to daily writing

In a Friends episode, Monica asks her date — Tom Selleck — have some strange habits, being herself someone who has many obsessive-compulsive disorders.

I haven’t found any habits of this kind until today when I’ve wanted to write on this topic: I’m a compulsive “pocket adder.”

Let me explain.

Every time I come across a piece of content that seems interesting, I add it to “my Pocket”: an app that bookmark and download every webpage you want to check later.

Guess what? I won’t check it later.

I’m always a click away to quench my thirst for fresh content, the hunt seems to trigger dopamine, but the accumulation gives me anxiety. That’s weird, I know.

Being hungry to learn new things or being curious about a variety of topics is definitively an excellent habit to have until you have to create.

I’ve learned that you have two modes: either you consume, or you create. Too much content consumption will walk you away from creation.

Finding balance is the key.

This is how I switched in creation mode after years of writer block.

You already know more than you think.

You will always have something to learn, no matter your expertise on a topic. It’s a fact.

You have two approaches: Either you learn everything, and stay the student forever. Either the best moment to create something about something you’ve learned is now.

What if there’s no student-professor posture? What if creating is at the foundation of your learning journey?

You know more than you think. You don’t need this book, that extra-research. Be confident of what you’ve already absorbed.

Acknowledge the Dunning-Kruger effect and don’t ask for permission.

Done is better than perfect.

To ship content, you have to force yourself to stay in creation mode as long as possible.

If you feel the urge to research more during your writing session, you’re not ready enough to write on it.

Try to generate 100 post ideas on a paper sheet and rate the expertise level of each one from 1 to 10 from a reader’s point of view.

For example, in a product designer POV, a “What is product design?” post is a 1, while a blog post on product leadership is an 8. Still, know what a” 10" could be tho.

If you can’t write an outline of the blog post idea, try writing on a topic that has a lower level.

A beginner piece of content shipped is better than the ultimate piece that stays forever in your drafts.

Consume to create

Once you’ve shipped a piece, you can switch back to content consumption, but this time with an objective.

“Intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant.” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

By ignoring the noise, you won’t feel the crazy habit of accumulation — quality over quantity.

Be sensible of a unique point of view from others, quotes, conversations, or learnings into your own experience: everything that can trigger your creative mode.

My game plan is to keep in mind the expertise scale. Creating what I’m comfortable with while consuming content that is higher on the scale.

Consolidating what I already think I know, while focusing on what I need to master next.

Daily writing helped me to jump from a mode to the other pretty fast, cutting the crap to have something to write on the next day.

And it can apply to my design work to some extent. Just replace “Pocket” by “Dribbble,” and it’s another story.

I heard that the best system is what you use. Adapt or find yours.

Mine is not perfect: I found a limit last week.

Finding what to say is one thing, but form and style have its importance. Having a “student” posture is not compatible with the confidence of clickbait headlines.

Hard choice: to please a few people or get the extra eyeballs to my work. But that’s another topic, I guess.